• The word barbecue comes from the Caribbean "barbacoa," which uses a wooden frame called a "buccan." French explorers who learned this way of preserving meat became known as buccaneers (and eventually pirates).

• Pigs have 14 ribs.

• The Weber grill was invented in 1952 when George Stephen cut a metal fishing buoy in half and added a lid.

• In BBQ parlance, shoulder roast (long called pork butt before being renamed to silence the snickers) is called "the money muscle."

• When Arby's introduced its Smokehouse Brisket Sandwich, smoked for a ballyhooed 13 hours, it aired a real-time commercial of the process. Conceived by Minneapolis ad agency Fallon, the ad ran last year over Memorial Day weekend on a TV station in Duluth.

Kim Ode